Bluenose II consultant gets $1,200 per day to look into rudder problem

Peter Kinley, left, and Al Hutchinson of the Lunenburg Shipyard Alliance show how difficult it is to turn the wheel that moves the rudder on Bluenose II in this file photo. (BEVERLEY WARE / South Shore Bureau)

Already over budget, the Bluenose II rebuild project is going to cost even more now that the provincial government has retained a consultant to look at the latest problem with the project.

Wilson Fitt of Costello Fitt Limited will report to David Darrow, the deputy minister to the Premier’s office, about the rudder issue that came to light more than a month ago. The ship’s builder, Lunenburg Shipyard Alliance, says it had warned the province and the designer that the steel rudder being recommended was too heavy. Last month, with the schooner in the water, the steel material was making it difficult for anyone operating the ship`s wheel to turn the rudder.

A copy of the scope for Fitt‘s work said he will represent the Province of Nova Scotia through the deputy minister. It also says he will provide direction to, and work directly with, the builder, the vessel operators and a new design team to “find an expedient solution to the rudder/steering system issues, with the objective of allowing the vessel to safely operate for at least a part of this season.”

Fitt will recommend designers and other consultants as needed, stay in touch with the American Bureau of Shipping and be directly involved in meetings, tests and sea trials during work to come up with a solution to the steering and rudder issue.

His company will be paid $1,200 per day that it works, said Laurel Munroe, Premier’s Stephen McNeil’s press secretary.

She said Fitt only started work last week “so there’s not really much for him to say at this point. He’s still getting up to speed.”

She said it’s hoped that in the next week or two there will be a technical briefing by Fitt “when there is something to tell.”

She said there is no end date for his work.

The Bluenose II project is millions of dollars over budget.

Communities, Culture and Heritage Minister deputy minister Kelliann Dean will be appearing before the Legislature’s Public Accounts Committee June 18.

But that’s not enough for Progressive Conservative Tourism critic Karla MacFarlane. She wants McNeil and Darrow to appear.

“I want them both there,” she said. “This is the premier’s responsibility and he needs to answer the questions.”

But Munroe said McNeil won’t likely be at Public Accounts. “There’s no plan to that effect,” she said.

MacFarlane said she sent the Premier a letter early this year asking for answers to 55 questions about the Bluenose II project, but she hasn’t received any answers.

“I think if he had answered them, he would have had a lot of his answers today with some of the issues he’s dealing with.”

MacFarlane said bringing in someone to deal specifically with the rudder issue “puts up a red flag for me. I want to know why it is even necessary at this point... $1,200 a day, and how much more will the taxpayers be on the hook for this? We know it’s over budget, we know it’s overdue, and obviously it’s showing the incompetence of the Liberal government.”

The fact the rebuild started under the former NDP government doesn’t matter, she said.

“You can backpedal all you want to whatever government was in charge in the past, but it is now the Liberal government’s responsibility to pick up the pieces and provide Nova Scotians with the answers they deserve, considering it’s their money and how many millions over budget it is.”